Use of urban spaces and peddling: Sample of Diyarbakır

One of the important elements that shapes present day cities is peddlers. Peddlers are seen more especially in cities that get a lot of migration. They use the spaces with increasing urban population as a work field. Street corners, underpasses, overpasses, crossroads when the light is red, bus stops, metro stations, ferryboat wharves, pavements, etc. are the spaces where peddlers sell things.Peddlers are rarely seen in developed countries while they are more frequently found in developing countries. Peddlers are almost unchangeable images of the big cities that get continuous migration in developing countries of Asia, Africa, and South America. A lot of developing countries are supporting peddling rather than preventing it since they see it as a solution to poverty. Bangladesh, India and Mexico can be given as examples to those countries.In our country too the history of peddling goes back to the old times. Some kind of peddlers called ?çerçi?, who travel from village to village, are among the examples of first peddlers. In cities of Otoman Period peddlers existed as well. In Republican Era, we see peddlers in an increasing number in our rapidly growing cities because of migrations from rural areas towards urban areas that have continued since 1950s. İstanbul, İzmir, Ankârla, and Diyarbakır can be given as examples to those cities.1990s are the years in which Diyarbakır grew largely in respect to urban area and urban population. In this period, Diyarbakır faced with a different phenomenon of migration: Forced migration. Because of terror events and the evacuation of villages in the region as a consequence, the urban population has increased more than two-fold over the last 25 years. The only means of living of those unqualified people who had to migrate to the city has been daily works and peddling.The subject of this study is peddling as a means of living of the population from rural areas and the use of urban spaces of peddlers. The reasons of occurence of peddling, which is one of the informal economic activities, and demographic, occupational, and economic characteristics of peddlers in Diyarbakır are major research topics of this study. Most of the peddlers in Diyarbakır consist of men. However, the number of child peddlers should not be underestimated. That the number of married peddlers is high as well is an evidence that peddling is an important means of living. The families are crowded not because of having a partiarchal family structure but because of having a lot of children. The education level and the earnings of the peddlers are low. Most of the peddlers live in districts where migrants with low incomes live.Key Words: Peddler, Use of Urban Spaces, Urban Poverty, Migration, Diyarbakır